Bobby Fischer chess notes to auction at PFC

Bobby Fischer chess notes to auction at PFC

9 Aug 2012, 10:41 GMT+01

PFC Auctions have announced that their upcoming September sale will feature an exceptionally rare collection of handwritten chess notes, by the chess Grandmaster and world chess champion Bobby Fischer (1943-2008).

Fischer is considered to be among the greatest chess players of all time. From the age of 13 he was competing in high profile tournaments against established chess champions and winning, such as his 1956 match against Donald Byrne that became known as ‘The Game of the Century’. He became the youngest Grandmaster in history at the age of 15, and the youngest candidate for the World Championship.

Fischer’s chess career became highly political when he played for the World Championship against Boris Spassky of the USSR in 1972, a match the media publicised as a Cold War confrontation. This match provoked more worldwide interest in a chess tournament than any chess event before or following. Fischer then disappeared from the world of chess until the early 90s, boycotted his native America, and expressed some offensive and contentious views that alienated him from his admirers.

Fischer also proposed a new style of chess known as Chess960 or Fischer Random Chess, now a popular variant, along with a modified chess timing system. He is a high profile figure in the history of chess, as well as a somewhat controversial one, described by fellow Grandmaster Garry Kasparov as “perhaps the most mythologically shrouded figure in chess”.

PFC auctions is offering twenty handwritten sheets of chess notes by this elusive wunderkind, detailing 8 matches from Fischer’s winning Herceg Novi Blitz Tournament in April 1970 in Yugoslavia. The notes are from matches he played against Viktor Korchnoi, David Bronstein, Vasily Smyslov, Predrag Ostojic, Vlastimil Hort, Samuel Reshevsky and Tigran Pertosian.

Bobby Fischer items rarely appear at auction. His personal chess library was sold for $61,000 in June 2009, and the 1972 chess set used by Fischer and Spassky, signed by both, was sold for $76,275 in 2011. With a minimum bid of just £200 on these Bobby Fischer handwritten notes, collectors are presented with a fine chance to invest in some incredible chess memorabilia, an example of the mental processes of a great chess intellect.